‘Illegal constructions’ at Bidhan Market in Siliguri will be removed this month, state tourism minister Gautam Deb said today.
Nine such constructions have been identified, officials said. Mr Deb also said no construction can be carried out in the market without written permission from the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA), which owns the market. Days after Mr Deb levelled allegations at a section of traders about illegal constructions at the market, he convened a meeting today with Darjeeling District Magistrate S Ponnambalam, and SJDA officials.
“The meeting unanimously decided that without a written approval of the SJDA, no construction can take place in the market. The market should be run in the interest of the people, traders, based on some clear principles and discipline. Taking advantage of the lockdown, some traders built some illegal structures in the pretext of repairing stalls or other excuses. The SJDA has evidence about who are behind such illegal practice. It will not be tolerated. A notice will be issued soon. If they themselves do not remove those constructions, they will be dismantled through legal steps within this month. There is no scope of any discussion at this stage and there will be no compromise on this issue,” Mr Deb said.
SJDA officials said nine such constructions had come up in the market.
SJDA chairman Bijoy Chandra Barman said they will issue the notice on the removal of those structures following a visit to the market on Tuesday. There are around 3,200 shops, including makeshift stalls in one of Siliguri’s oldest and biggest markets.
There was a hue and cry over illegal constructions in the market in July last year. Minister Deb had visited the site and vowed not to allow any such construction, after he found that at least 20 shops were being built illegally at the place where seven shops were gutted in a fire in June the same year.
Later, the SJDA had issued a demolition notice to the traders.
The issue snowballed into a major one in the town.
“We had taken steps to dismantle those illegal constructions and arranged funds of around Rs 30 lakh to build new shops last year,” Minister Deb said.
Mr Deb said a statue of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, the first chief minister of Bengal and after whom the market was named, will be erected in the market.